My sister, Miss A, and her boyfriend, Mr J, came for a visit from Christmas Island and kindly said they’d drive out my way and meet me for lunch somewhere in my new work neighbourhood. Not wanting to have to venture too far we decided on Clancy’s Fish Pub, right next door.

It wasn’t overly crowded on the night we arrived, so it was easy enough to find a table. The decore was a little kitchy. A mishmash of brightly coloured painted tables and decorative plasticy jelly fish hanging proudly above the bar. However I was impressed when I looked over the tasty alternatives available on the menu. I was feeling pretty hungry so I decided I’d sample the pasta option, my sister went for the squid and Mr J was starving!! So he ordered a few oysters, some soft shell crab and a stir fried prawn dish. He’s a growing lad, need to keep his energy levels high :)

It didn’t take too long for the dishes to arrive, all in one swift bombardment as had been requested. My pasta, “The Deadliest Catch” was full of chilli King crab & tiger prawn linguini with baby romas, preserved lemon & spinach, a small option was available for $18.50, while a large went for $26.50. It was a generous serve and looked impressive with a large crab claw balanced carefully on top. I enjoyed this dish. It had a rich tomato taste with a handful of plump prawns and chilli crab throughout. The crab was nice, sweet meat, however there really wasn’t a lot of heat to the dish…. ok there was none… it lacked a chilli kick, but I’m not sure I was entirely disapppointed by this though. Despite the lack of heat, there was a delicious flavour to my pasta. I’d give it another go, and as this place is within a very short walking distance I’m sure I will soon enough.

So the sister went for the Calamari, which is available either in Salt & Pepper, Cajun Style or Lemon Pepper and comes served with chips & Clancy’s coleslaw, again either in small for $14.50 or large for $20.50. Miss A went for the Lemon Pepper option in large and a decent sized cone of chips was presented, that had a delicious crispness on the outside and the right amount of salt. The squid was cooked to perfection (which I found out first hand, when she shared). Definitely enough rings of squid on the plate to share around. Initial impression of the coleslaw were that it wasn’t the best, however after eating the deeped fried squid and fries, the salad was said to have a pleasant lightness, that was very refreshing. Another happy customer.

As mentioned Mr J was very hungry so he started out his Clancy food journey with 6 of their finest oysters, served natural (natural, kilpatrick 6 for $16 or 12 for $28). From all accounts they had a fabulous freshness to them with their spritz of lemon and a little salt.

Now I’m not an oyster fan so I couldn’t vouch for these personally, but next up was the Soft shell crab with pickled ginger aioli & wasabi salt ($14.50). I had become a fan of soft shell crab after a recent trip to Bali where it had featured on the menu a few times. Very tasty! Mr shared this dish around the table and I have to say that with the wasabi salt it was just delicious! Glad I had a go at this!

Finally Mr J filled himself up to the brim with the Wok fried Tiger Prawns, coconut curry, Asian veg, coriander rice, beanshoot salad ($29.50). Again, this wasn’t something I personally sampled, but I’m told it tasted nice…. to me te only comment would be that it didn’t quite present as well as some of the others. No complaints from Mr J though!

In all I was most impressed with my first visit to Clancy’s, service had been pleasant and the food was more than decent. As my new official local (on the work scene at least) I’m sure there’ll be a day in the not too distant future when I find myself craving some quality seafood and will wander around the corner for a bite to eat. Despite your slightly garish decorations, you go alright Clancys :)